The crisis brought by the Torterra had been resolved, and the forest had returned to its original state. Yuga then bid farewell to the Celebi, since Akai was still waiting for his news.
Celebi flew above its new home, waving reluctantly to send Yuga off.
Yuga flew out of the forest and saw that the tall wooden wall, which had originally served as the boundary between the village and the forest, had already collapsed. After thinking for a moment, he directed Dragonite to descend, then released Florges and asked.
"Florges, can you restore this wooden wall to the way it was before?"
Florges nodded without hesitation. The wall had originally been formed from living trees. Although those trees had toppled due to the damaged ley lines, they hadn't lost their vitality.
Florges activated Grassy Terrain, and the exposed roots of those trees immediately began to grow rapidly. They soon took root back into the soil, and the broken branches began to regrow. In no time at all, a new wooden wall had reappeared.
Yuga noticed that Florges had become even more skillful in her control of Grass-type energy, and he suspected it was related to the gift from the pink Celebi before it left.
Just then, Akai returned, panting, and happened to witness the moment when the wooden wall was restored. With him was a fellow forest ranger who had come along to assess the situation.
"Mr... Mr. Shimizu..."
Hearing the voice, Yuga turned around and saw that it was Akai. Smiling, he said, "You're back? The matter has been resolved."
Then he looked at the person next to Akai and, upon seeing her outfit, immediately guessed that she was also a forest ranger. He asked, "And this is?"
"Ah… oh, right, I forgot to introduce her. This is Millie, also a forest ranger. She came here to help after receiving my message. We didn't expect that…" Akai explained in a daze.
There weren't many forest rangers nearby, and Millie was already the closest one. As soon as she received the message, she rushed over—only to find that the matter had already been resolved.
On the way, she had already learned the origin of the Torterra from Akai.
"Mr… Mr. Shimizu… H-hello…" Millie greeted Yuga nervously, feeling restrained due to meeting such a prominent person for the first time.
"Hello," Yuga nodded to Millie with a gentle expression. Then he looked back at Akai and said, "Although the issue has been resolved, we still need to report it to the League. That Torterra..."
Originally, Yuga thought Akai didn't know the origin of the Torterra, and he was just about to tell him the information he had received from the pink Celebi. But before he could speak, Akai said, "Mr. Shimizu, about that Torterra, here's what happened..."
Akai told Yuga what he had heard from the village chief. It was roughly the same as what the pink Celebi had said, with only a few minor discrepancies in unimportant details.
"This time, it's all thanks to you. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have known what to do..." Akai said gratefully.
Yuga shook his head and said, "The key to resolving the situation with Torterra wasn't me, it was..."
He then told Akai everything about the pink Celebi and instructed him to include it all in the report to the League.
Akai hadn't expected such a twist and quickly agreed.
When they returned to the village, Yuga found that many of the houses had collapsed due to the earthquakes caused by the Torterra—it was a disaster they hadn't asked for.
After the village chief returned with the villagers and learned that the Torterra had died, he remained silent for a long time before finally making an unexpected decision.
He was going to lead everyone to move away from this place.
Because of the Torterra, their village had always been bound to this place. Although they lived peacefully, free from worldly disputes and without worries, it also limited the development of their future generations. Now that the Torterra was gone, it was time for them to start a new life.
The village chief's decision was supported by the majority of the villagers. Only a small number of people, having grown used to their originally leisurely lifestyle, were reluctant to go out into the world and make a living.
So the village chief said, "Those who want to stay can stay. Whoever is willing to leave, just come with me."
With that, the ones who didn't want to leave went silent. They did want to stay, but if it meant being separated from everyone else, they couldn't bear it.
The village wasn't very large to begin with—just a handful of people—and many of them had spent most of their lives living together. Who would be willing to part from everyone?
So, just like that, it was decided that the entire village would relocate.
But relocating the entire village was a major undertaking. It wasn't something they could do without preparation, so the village chief decided to request assistance from the League.
Akai finished writing the report to the League that very evening. He included the information about the village's plan to relocate, and the Sinnoh League responded quickly—by the third day, they had already sent people to the village.
The people who came not only formally expressed their gratitude to Yuga but also brought the League's official plan for handling the relocation of the Gathering Village.
The League had arranged a new home for the Gathering Village below Hearthome City. It wasn't far from their current location and was close to the bustling Hearthome City, making it a very suitable place for them.
After all, the Gathering Village had suffered from a disaster, and it was the League's responsibility to resettle them.
However, although the Gathering Village was moving, Akai as the forest ranger couldn't leave. He had to stay behind and continue protecting the forest and Celebi.
Fortunately, the village's new home wasn't far from the old one, so it would be convenient whether he wanted to visit or the others wanted to see him.
With the matter of the Gathering Village coming to a close, Yuga decided to leave Sinnoh.
But before leaving, he went to see Flint once. Flint was in Hearthome City, still handling the situation with Professor Pedro.
That guy was really busy, so Yuga didn't disturb him much. After saying hello, he left.
Next, Yuga went to Veilstone City to visit Reggie and his grandfather. Veilstone City wasn't far from Hearthome City, with only Solaceon Town in between. Since he rarely came to Sinnoh, it wouldn't be right not to visit his good friend.
As for Aunt Johanna and Dawn, they lived in Twinleaf Town, which was too far away, so he didn't plan to go there.
Reggie didn't know Yuga had come to Sinnoh, so when he saw him, he was both surprised and happy.
"Yuga! Why are you here?"
Reggie had been in his yard giving his Bibarel a bath when, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed someone standing outside. When he looked up, he realized it was Yuga.
He immediately dropped the hose in his hand and ran over to open the yard gate.
"Come in, come in," Reggie said, pulling Yuga into the yard, while complaining, "When did you get here? Why didn't you tell me in advance? I didn't prepare anything at all."
Yuga replied, "There was some League business, so it was a last-minute trip. Besides, isn't this the perfect surprise for you?"
"You bastard…" Reggie chuckled and playfully punched Yuga on the shoulder.
Just then, Reggie's grandfather heard the commotion outside and came out, leaning on his cane.
He was getting older. Although his body was still healthy, his eyesight had worsened over the past two years. He could only vaguely make out that someone had entered the yard, but he couldn't see who it was.
Yuga waved at Grandpa from a distance.
"Grandpa, hello! Long time no see."
Because Yuga and Reggie kept in touch fairly often, Grandpa was very familiar with Yuga's voice. As soon as he heard it, he knew who had come.
"It's… it's little Yuga! Come on in, come in, come inside!"
Grandpa didn't speak as fluently as he used to.
Once they were inside the house, Grandpa immediately began to busy himself—making tea, bringing out snacks. Yuga quickly said, "Grandpa, don't trouble yourself. Please sit down, I'll sit and chat with you."
In the past two years, Grandpa had gotten older. He could hardly help with anything at the Blue Sky Day Care anymore, and nearly everything inside and out was handled by Reggie alone. So Grandpa had become fond of doing little household chores around the house and had also become a bit more talkative.
Still, the Blue Sky Day Care had developed quite well these past two years. Because they frequently exchanged Pokémon with YoYo Day Care, they had managed to raise quite a few rare Pokémon, gaining a small reputation in the surrounding area. Grandpa now felt much more at ease.
Grandpa sat next to Yuga and held his hand as he talked non-stop about the Day Care. Yuga didn't mind at all—he listened quietly, occasionally adding a few comments.
"By the way, where's Paul? I don't see him around. Is he not at home?" Yuga asked suddenly.
Grandpa said helplessly, "Him? He went out again. That kid just can't sit still at home…"
Yuga comforted him, "That's how young people are—they should get out and explore while they're still young. The older they get, the less chance they'll have."
Grandpa nodded. "Yes, they should get out and explore. Yes, indeed…"
That night, Yuga stayed over at Reggie's house.
The next morning, Yuga opened his eyes to the chirping of Starly outside the window. By then, Reggie was already busy in the yard.
The Blue Sky Day Care wasn't as large or well-staffed as the YoYo Day Care. Although Reggie did have assistant Pokémon, they weren't as many or as capable as those at YoYo Day Care. So naturally, he had to work a bit harder himself.
Yuga had breakfast with Grandpa. Reggie would eat after he finished his work. Since that would take a while, he told Yuga and Grandpa not to wait for him.
After breakfast, since Reggie was still busy, Yuga decided to go for a walk around the area by himself. He didn't plan to stay long at the Blue Sky Day Care and had already decided to leave today.
Veilstone City wasn't particularly well-known in Sinnoh and definitely not a bustling place. As a result, it wasn't heavily populated, and land use wasn't tight. There was a large area of open land around the Blue Sky Day Care, and Grandpa had even bought a considerable portion of it in his younger years.
The nearby Veilstone Gym was the same—it sat amidst a large expanse of land.
Compared to the world of Yuga's previous life, land in the Pokémon world was far cheaper.
However, the Blue Sky Day Care itself was located in a relatively remote part of Veilstone City, so it wasn't surprising that Grandpa had been able to purchase all that land for future use.
Because the Day Care hadn't grown to that scale yet, the surrounding land remained undeveloped. Grandpa had simply planted many berry trees that were easy to grow and bore fruit easily.
As it happened to be autumn, the trees were now full of fruit. The ripe ones had already been picked by Reggie and brought back home, so the trees only had unripe ones left.
Even so, these fruits still attracted the covetous eyes of the surrounding wild Pokémon. When Yuga walked into the berry grove, he saw quite a few Pokémon lingering nearby.
But none of them dared get too close—because Reggie had stationed his Staraptor in the grove.
Although Reggie had devoted most of his energy to the Day Care over the years, the strength of his Pokémon had still improved. Staraptor didn't even need to act; just sitting in the grove and activating its Intimidate ability was enough to scare off the wild Pokémon completely.